Sam Rayburn Reservoir
Overview
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
located in Southeast Texas
Southeast Texas
Southeast Texas is a subregion of East Texas located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The subregion is geographically centered around the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown and Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan areas...
, 70 mi (112.7 km) north of Beaumont
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
. The reservoir is fed by the Angelina River
Angelina River
The Angelina River is formed by the junction of Barnhardt and Shawnee creeks three miles northwest of Laneville in southwest central Rusk County, Texas ....
, the major tributary of the Neches River
Neches River
The Neches River flows for through east Texas to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, Lake Palestine and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir are located on the Neches. Several cities are located along the Neches River Basin, including Evadale, Tyler, Lufkin, Silsbee,...
. The capacity of the reservoir is 3997600 acre.ft, and is the largest lake wholly located within the state of Texas. The reservoir is operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
, Fort Worth district.
Construction began September 7, 1956 and the reservoir began serving its purpose on March 29, 1965.
